Tag Archives: Sir Alex Ferguson

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Manchester United were so desperate to get Pallister that they broke the record paid for a defender and the centre back delivered for them and was certainly worth the investment. Forming one of the best partnerships with Steve Bruce, he helped the club to four league titles.

9 – Vincent Kompany

One of the bargains of the Premier League era. Manchester City may be able to throw their money around these days but Kompany is still badly missed when he is out of the team and it would seem like no amount of money can replace the Belgian.

8 – Sami Hyypia

A Liverpool legend that spent 10 years at the club and certainly a fan favourite on the Kop. Winning many personal awards and helping the club win the Champions league in 2005 would have made not being able to win the league title slightly easier to take.

7 – Jaap Stam

This might be a strange inclusion in the list as the Dutchman only spent three seasons in the Premier League with Manchester United but his quality was there for everyone to see and it isn’t a surprise that he won the title every year he was there.

6 – Jamie Carragher

At the start of his career he was played in every position on the pitch but when he finally settled as a centre back, he was one of the most consistent to ever play in the position at club level. Was unlucky not to play more internationally.

At the age of 40 he is playing for Wigan Athletic but he will be fondly remembered by Bolton Wanderers fans as he helped them gain promotion to the top flight and then was a key part of them qualifying for Europe. Also featured for West Ham.

9 – Pepe Reina

Reina won the Premier League Golden Glove award three times during his eight year spell at Liverpool. At his very best he was undroppable and some were surprised that he was allowed to leave the club when he did and it’s argued he hasn’t been replaced properly.

8 – Brad Friedel

Despite not winning many trophies or awards he was by far one of the most consistent goalkeepers ever. Rarely made mistakes and didn’t miss a single Premier League game for eight seasons which just shows how reliable he was and even has a goal to his name.

7 – Shay Given

At 39 he is still contracted to Stoke City and it’s argued that Jack Butland is benefitting from his experience. He will forever be a hero at Newcastle United because with Given they were one of the top teams and played European football regularly and was sublime.

6 – Joe Hart

The England number one has the potential to go on to be one of the best goalkeepers in world football and is at exactly the right club to do that. He will probably be England captain one day and will lift many more trophies in his career.

Liverpool have had a great start to the season and they will be hoping this is the year that they begin to challenge for a place in the Champions League.

They have one of the best strikeforces ever seen in the Premier League with both Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge playing some brilliant stuff and looking like a better partnership every time they play together. Add this to some exciting midfielders like Coutinho and Victor Moses they really do look like they will score goals in every game. They still have the main man in midfield Steven Gerrard who has had to change his game in recent seasons and I think he will be even more determined to do well after recent comments made by Sir Alex Ferguson.

But my favourite player for Liverpool is someone that I feel has been largely underrated and that is their left back Jose Enrique. For me he is one of the best left backs in Europe and a lot of people are saying that Leighton Baines, Patrice Evra and Ashley Cole are better than him. In my opinion this is very harsh as I believe on his day (which is most games) he is better than all of them, none of them are as strong as him and he very rarely makes a mistake or is caught out of position. Going forward Baines does have a better final ball but sometimes his gung ho tactics leave his team in danger. As well as Baines played for England it was not a surprise that with him in the team they were getting caught on the counter attack quite a lot.
Back to Enrique and I think he gained a lot of praise from a lot of football people because he could have left Newcastle United when they were relegated and went back abroad but he held his hands up and realised he wasn’t good enough and helped them get back into the Premier League. This is what made him a better player and has given him the opportunity to play for a club that will be challenging at the right end of the table and for Liverpool he has rarely put in a bad performance. Out of all the Kenny Dalglish signings he was by far the best and one that they paid a good price for and he lived up to it. But it is under Brendan Rodgers that he has improved even further sometimes playing as a left back and other times as a left wing back he was contributed eight assists in 43 games which isn’t a bad record at all.

It a shame that he has never even been given the opportunity to play at international level for Spain especially when you consider that before Jordi Alba came on the scene it was one of the few weak spots the team had. Unfortunately I do not think he will get the chance but I do not understand that at all. He has proven himself as a brilliant left back in England and could have been their number three for many years to come.

The Premier League will be very difficult to predict this season because of all the changes that have taken place over the summer.

Three of the top five have new managers so will that work in their favour or will it take them a while to adjust to their new jobs.
Manchester City under Manuel Pellegrini will be an interesting prospect because he does like his teams to play more attacking football and win every game that they play. This is different to former manager Roberto Mancini who at times was a little negative. The signings the club has made will surely improve the squad and I am excited to see how Stevan Jovetic does because he could easily be the signing of the season.

Jose Mourinho is back at Chelsea and this might just make them become the best team in the country once again. He has a great team to work with and will be hoping that he can replicate his first spell in charge. It will be interesting to see if he still favours the players that were there in his first spell like John Terry who should not be in a title winning first 11 anymore. He has a tough choice in picking his main striker this year because Romelu Lukaku, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba are all capable on their day.

Sir Alex Ferguson has left Manchester United in a very strong position so it should not be too hard for David Moyes to at least challenge for the title this season because they still have the same team. The Wayne Rooney saga over the summer will not have helped things and the fact that he has not been able to convince many players to join them will be a little concerning. There will be even more pressure on Robin Van Persie to succeed this season and Moyes has to hope they do not become a one man team.

Arsenal are another club that has struggled in convincing players that they are the team they should be joining but if they can bring in someone like Luis Suarez then they could be right up there come the end of the season. As much as Arsene Wenger thinks top four is good enough I believe this may be his last season in charge if they do not come close to the title again. They have been falling further and further behind their rivals and that is probably why they have tried to spend a lot of money this summer.

Tottenham Hotspur could be seen as outsiders for the title because at times they did play some good stuff last year but unfortunately a lot does rest on whether they can keep hold of Gareth Bale. I do not think they are a one man team but he did win a lot of games for them last year but the signing of Roberto Soldado is a very good one and if he hits the ground running they will have a clinical striker on their hands that will add goals consistently which Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor failed to do last season.

Everton are searching for a new manager after David Moyes decided to take over at Manchester United when Sir Alex Ferguson retires.

Moyes, did a fantastic job and deserves a lot of credit for what he has done at the club and even though he has not delivered any trophies in his time at the club, he has certainly raised the profile of the club and made them a much better side then when he first took over. I am sure there will be some Everton fans that are disappointed in Moyes leaving but that is to be expected but they must surely understand this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, not only for him to manage Manchester United but for a British manager to be in charge of one of the top clubs in the Premier League. Personally, I hope he does really well as this will encourage other clubs to take a chance on British managers rather than constantly looking abroad. His 42.05% win record is very good, especially when you consider that they battled against relegation a few times under him. But, now it is time to look for a new manager to continue the good work of Moyes.

Roberto Martinez is the favourite for the job and I can fully understand why he is being linked with the job. Martinez has got Wigan Athletic playing some good football and if he had better players at his disposal I think he could replicate the finishing positions of Moyes. If Wigan do go down I do think he will leave and I don’t think that should put Everton off getting him in as boss. He is good at bringing in good players at low prices and finding young talent that will go onto bigger and better things and although Everton aren’t a selling club, they do not have a lot of money to spend on transfers so this is a perfect fit.

Someone that has been linked with the job early on is Vitor Pereira and I was very surprised with this. He is currently the manager of Porto and has had a very good start to his managerial career but he was heavily criticised because of their elimination from the Champions League and this may just make him want to leave the club in the summer. He may turn out to be successful and follow in the wings of Jose Mourinho and Andre Villas-Boas in becoming a good Premier League manager.

Neil Lennon is also linked with the job and this could be possible because he has won nearly everything at Celtic and at the moment the SPL certainly isn’t very strong and they should walk the league for a number of years to come. This could mean that he wants a new challenge and a good move for him could be Everton and I would like to see how well he would do in England. However, I do think he could be a risky choice because even with all his trophies, he is largely untested at a good level.

Others linked with the job are Phil Neville, Michael Laudrup and Martin O’Neill.

Alex Ferguson has announced that he will be retiring at the end of the season so Manchester United will be searching for a new manager.
Whether you love him or hate everyone simply has to respect Sir Alex because of his phenomenal record. In my opinion he has finished in the perfect way, delivering the title comfortably and bringing through a lot of good young players that will be the future of the club for many years to come. I don’t know how long he has been thinking about this decision but he has definitely wanted to make sure that the club are still the top team in England after he has finished. Nobody can compare to his record of 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups, four League Cups, two Champions Leagues, a Cup Winners Cup, Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup, Club World Cup and 10 Community Shields. He has so far been in charge of 1497 games and won 893 of those, giving him a 59.65% win record but what is even more remarkable is that he only lost 267 games. But now it is time to move on and search for a successor that can continue his work.

The favourite to take over is fellow Scotsman David Moyes who has been doing a very good job at Everton. He has been in charge of the club since 2002 and has been one of the best managers in the Premier League since then, overachieving several times and leading them into Europe on a number of occasions. However, the only worry that could occur is whether he is a big enough name and get the respect of the international players already at the club. Also, he hasn’t won any trophies in his 11 years at Everton, with the closest being a defeat in the 2009 FA Cup final.
Jose Mourinho is also in the running for the post but I am unsure whether this is possible because it does seem like he will be joining Chelsea in the summer after Rafael Benitez leaves the club. But, if they cannot agree a deal with Real Madrid then that could leave the door open for the team from Manchester. I do think that he would be interested and it would be his way of showing that he is the best and the special one by replicating and possibly surpassing Sir Alex’s record.
Another name that I do believe deserves a mention is Jurgen Klopp because he is one of the best up and coming managers in Europe. He is only in his second managerial position but he has got Borussia Dortmund into the Champions League final this season and has got the team playing some fantastic football with a good young team. This is where I think he fits in with the way things are at Old Trafford because he will look to the youth and bring in younger players. If he gets the job then I believe he will be a massive success and improve the Premier League.

Manchester United have won their 20th title with four games still to play and could finish the season on 96 points.

It has been a very good season for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side and one that will be remembered, especially after last season’s heartbreaking ending. They clearly didn’t want a repeat of that this year and have only lost four games all season as well as having a much better goal difference than their closest rivals which was once again Manchester City. At times earlier in the season there were questions about their defence but in recent weeks it has tightened up brilliantly which has taken the pressure off their attacking players.

One of these attacking players is Robin Van Persie who in my opinion has been the difference this season from last year. It is not only his goals that has made him such a good signing but his movement and his ability on the ball, he drags defenders out of position giving other players opportunities to score and even when he was on a goal scoring drought, he was still playing pretty well. 28 goals in all competitions is a great return and he will be hoping to hit 30 before the season is out. The other two main strikers have also chipped in with goals and Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez will have profited from playing alongside the former Arsenal man. Although there may be a few concerns with Rooney as it is the first time he is not the main man for a long time. Another slight concern might be the goal scoring return of Danny Welbeck but he has played on the wing at times this season and some of his appearances have been off the bench. In my opinion though he is certainly good enough to be the fourth choice striker.

It has been quite a strange season for the clubs midfielders though as none of the attacking ones have really stood out for prolonged periods of time. Nani, Ashley Young, Shinji Kagawa and Antonio Valencia just haven’t quite been at their best this season and will be hoping they get another chance to impress next season because I am a little worried about the future of some of these at the club. However, Michael Carrick, whether rightly or wrongly has been included in the PFA Player of the Year nominations, has had a fantastic season and just proved why he should have more England caps than he does.

Yet again the defence has been good at times but there have also been mistakes in their defence that have not quite cost them but made a few games more difficult than they should have been. Rafael at right back looks very promising and in a few years could be considered the best in the world, as long as he improves his defending slightly. However, these days it seems more important to be able to attack from full back than to actually defend so he is ok in that respect. Also David De Gea deserves a mention because everyone was jumping on his mistakes but when he was keeping clean sheet after clean sheet nobody was praising him. He is another that will get better and I don’t think people consider his age when criticising him. He is only young (especially for a goalkeeper) and will make mistakes but he has bounced back from every one of them.

Manchester United are top of the Premier League and looking like they will win yet another title but defensively they haven’t been at their best.

So who should be in the heart of their defence? The most experienced centre back is Rio Ferdinand as he has won a lot of trophies and played a lot of games in his career. However, this also works against him because he is getting towards the end of his career and he has been caught out this year a couple of times. Most notably by Gareth Bale in their defeat to Tottenahm Hotspur at Old Trafford.

Nemanja Vidic is another player that a few years ago would have been considered one of the best in the world but injury problems have caught up with him and he hasn’t quite looked the same player and he has only played 13 times so far this season. However, he is still an imposing figure and I doubt many strikers look forward to playing against him and he also is a threat when he goes forward for set pieces. I personally do still consider him to be a great defender but whether he should be first choice anymore is another question.

If Vidic and Ferdinand aren’t guaranteed their place anymore who should play? The defender that has been the most consistent for quite a while now is Jonny Evans. The Northern Ireland international is a player that has actually performed well enough to change my opinion of him. A few years ago I didn’t rate him at all but now he doesn’t seem to do much wrong and I see it now as Evans plus one for Manchester United which says a lot as I honestly didn’t even think he would be a top half Premier League defender.

Another player that could take the position and play there for a very long time is Phil Jones. I think centre back is his best position by a long way and he will eventually settle there when he gets more experience. But that is part of the problem, his versatility is working against him as he can do a decent enough job at both right back and holding midfield which makes me think that Sir Alex Ferguson doesn’t quite trust him yet in the middle of his defence, especially for the big games. He could become one of the best in Europe but he needs to keep improving.

Finally, Chris Smalling is also an option for Alex Ferguson and like Jones he is certainly one for now as well as the long term future. His talents have been recognised both at club level and international with him starting for England in the 2-1 victory over Brazil. However, I do not think he is quite ready yet to be put in that position on a consistent basis and for me he should be fifth in the pecking order. Saying that he isn’t a bad number five centre back to have in your squad considering that he can also play right back.

The two I would choose are Jonny Evans and Nemanja Vidic when fit. Who do you think?

Christian Eriksen could be set to leave Ajax this summer after rejecting a new contract which has alerted Premier League clubs.

The 20 year old midfielder is one of the hottest prospects in world football and he could become one of the best players in the world. It is remarkable that he is so good and played so many games at such a young age at a huge club like Ajax. In total he has played 143 times scoring 26 goals and assisting another 48 more. In the last two seasons he has been phenomenal, with him playing 44 times and getting eight goals last season as well as already having nine goals in 31 appearances this year. More remarkably though and this is why he should be getting a lot of praise, he got 21 assists last season and was instrumental in nearly every attack. Would he be able to cut it in the Premier League though, as we have seen in the past that some players can perform very well in Holland but not be good enough for England. I am sure the fact he has rejected a new contract it will make a lot of clubs sit up and take notice.

So who will he sign for? The favourites to sign him have to be Manchester United as he seems like the type of player that would fit into their style of play and would be a perfect replacement for Paul Scholes who will probably retire (again) at the end of the season. Eriksen could either play out wide for Alex Ferguson’s side or right in the middle alongside a holding midfielder. Personally, I think him and Michael Carrick could control a game very easily if they played together. Also, he is only young and would fit into their recent signings of young and upcoming players.

However, he may decide to join a different club and another team that should be looking at Eriksen is Tottenham Hostpur. They will be able to give him European football and possibly even a place in the Champions League and not only that he could be the final piece to the jigsaw and get the club challenging for trophies and league titles. A key factor in his signing could be that it could convince Gareth Bale to stay at the club and this would certainly show that they were wanting to be more ambitious.

The final team that will be linked with him is Liverpool. Although they aren’t one of the top clubs anymore they do still have a chance of qualifying for Europe this year and this may make the Danish international join them. He would be a great signing because he is better than a lot of their other midfielders like Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson and Jonjo Shelvey. Also Steven Gerrard is getting towards the end of his career now and Eriksen would be a perfect replacement and although he wouldn’t be a direct replacement, he would deliver the same if not more goals and assists.

Oldham Athletic are looking for a new manager after Paul Dickov decided to resign from his position.
This may come as a surprise to football fans that do not follow League 1 closely as they will have just seen that they beat Liverpool in the FA Cup 3-2. Apart from this result it has been an awful time to be an Oldham fan as they have lost eight of their last nine league games with the latest being a 3-1 defeat to Walsall. This defeat has left them in 20th place, only one point above the relegation zone. The worrying thing about this is that all the teams below them have a game in hand and Dickov has decided that he is not the man to keep them up after guiding them to 17th and 16th in his two full seasons in charge. Dickov was manager for 141 games, winning 43, drawing 37 and losing 61 of them. Now it is up to the board to find someone to take control and make sure the club do stay in League 1 and there have been some interesting names linked with the post.

The favourite for the post and the most likely to get the job is Iain Dowie. If he does get the job then it will be the second time he has been in charge of the club. His first spell was from May 2002 to December 2003 and he led them to the playoffs but unfortunately he could not continue his job because of a number of reasons including financial problems at the club and he finally left because of family reasons. Since he left the club he is most recognised for his work at Crystal Palace as he got them promoted to the Premier League. One of the problems with appointing him is the fact that he has been out of management since he left Hull City in 2010.
The second favourite for the job is a man that supports the club and would certainly want to succeed and keep them in League 1. That man is Paul Scholes and although he is still actually contracted to Manchester United he is obviously nearing the end of his career (he has already retired once). Would he be a good choice though? In my opinion I don’t think they should go for another inexperienced manager but his love for the club and his connection with Sir Alex Ferguson could allow him to bring in some good talented youngsters from Old Trafford.
Another person linked with the job is Nicky Butt also a former Manchester United player. But yet again he is very inexperienced and a job like this won’t be the easiest and it may be tough for him. However, the players should respect him and listen to everything he has to say because of what he achieved as a player. Just like Scholes, he may have some good connections to Manchester United as well as other clubs and managers that he played under.
Other names linked with the role are Neil Redfearn, Phil Brown and Simon Grayson